New song from Prof off of his “Liability” album, set to be out soon on Rhymesayers Entertainment (Sept. 7th, 2015). No one reads articles anymore, so just watch the fucking video. Of course I wouldn’t post content unless I thought it was impressive; Prof’s rhyme is developing immensely, plus he brings it home with his soulful voice, and Tech N9ne is involved. Yes, you must listen. You can form your own opinion about it, but mine is positive; this has me excited and it sounds honed. Good news: New Prof.

Good news people, two of the most enjoyable bands are touring together. Even better news, one of them is putting out a new album in the fall. The Dodos and The Ruby Suns will be touring together this fall, and on an extensive trip throughout the entire country the two groups won’t stop in the midwest for too long, but do manage to squeeze in a show here in Minneapolis at the Turf Club on October 20th. I had the pleasure of seeing The Dodos perform live at last year’s Pitchfork Music Festival and they absolutely blew me away, so I would usually say go on that recommendation alone, but I’ve been hooked on The Ruby Suns for about a year now as well. Their album Sea Lion is completely under appreciated and should have been heard by a lot more people, but too bad for all of you missing out I guess. It’s shaping up to be one of the must see concerts of the fall so far, so get your tickets as soon as they go on sale. Here are a few MP3s to get acquainted with the bands if you haven’t heard them yet:

The Dodos have been working on a new studio album as well, slated to hit shelves September 15th. Time To Die is the follow up to the mesmerizing Visiter back in 2007. The album will feature a new member in the band as well, upping the number of members to three, a one Keaton Snyder will be featured on the vibraphone. As Meric Long recalls in an interview about the record and their recent touring, Snyder still has a bit to learn:

“He’s a better musician than Logan and I combined. I don’t even know what’s going on with his music theory ideas half the time.” On a similar note, Snyder-a classically-trained musician-is constantly learning what ‘being in a band’ entails. In fact, he didn’t even know how to react when a chord was yanked during his Dodos debut. “After the show,” says Long, “he was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve never had to plug anything in before.’ It was hilarious.”

September 15th is the release date, October 20th is the tour date. So pencil them in, and if you didn’t get enough of The Dodos on the Miller Chill commercial I’m sure you’ll be hearing all about them come fall. Track listing below:

01 Small Deaths
02 Longform
03 Fables
04 The Strums
05 This Is A Business
06 Two Medicines
07 Troll Nacht
08 Acorn Factory
09 Time To Die

Glassjaw frontman Daryl Palumbo has revealed through several recent Tweets that the band has completed work on their long-awaited new EP. Palumbo said:

Beck and I are sitting in his car listening to the new Glassjaw EP that we’ve just completed. Shit SLAMS.”

When this hits stores, it’ll be Glassjaw’s first new release of material since 2002’s Worship and Tribute full-lenghth album (although El Mark, an iTunes-only EP of Worship leftover material, appeared in 2005). Needless to say, there’s many souls that were stirring when the band went on hiatus, and the music that will culminate from these sessions is sure to quiet many people who were worried that we’d never hear from the band again. Be on the lookout for more updates in the future..

Outside of Ringworm and BTBAM, this band is the only Victory Records band that I even pay attention to anymore. Period. Over the years, the label’s taste have seriously gone downhill, but they have managed to hang onto a select few of aggressive musics finest names (and the most extensive and respected hardcore back catalog in existence). After you download the sampler containing their newest song from their forthcoming release The Eternal Return (..their first release since the departure of shredder Kris Norris and a self-professed return to the aggression and speed of Hidden Hands..), I won’t have my feelings hurt if you delete all the other tracks. Scratch that – I actually recommend you delete the excess songs to focus on the thrashy goodness contained within this reintroduction to a band that has never let me down yet.

Prepare to hype or hate. It’s that time once again to praise some of the world’s best selling artists for follow up albums. Canadian super group Broken Social Scene are finally recording a following up to their self-titled third album, full band and all. Radiohead are also quick to start recording the follow up to their hugely successful 2007 album In Rainbows.

Which one am I more excited for? Go ahead and reference the title of this column for the answer to that one. Radiohead is good and all (sort of) but the coordination and complication that comes with Broken Social Scene recording a full band album makes their news all that much more exciting than lame Thom Yorke and co. recording some stuff.

Here are the official words from each camp on the recording of the albums:

Radiohead -“It’s at the stage where we’ve got the big Lego box out and we’ve tipped it out on the floor and we’re just looking at all the bits and thinking what’s next?…It was very noisy and chaotic and really fun.” via Bassist Colin Greenwood.

Broken Social Scene -“I can’t tell you what this record will sound like, who from the other great bands will be involved, but I can tell you it feels amazing to be in Chicago recording.” Guitarist/everything man Kevin Drew.

Radiohead is recording with their longtime producer Nigel Godrich. Broken Social Scene is recording with mastermind John McEntire, of Tortoise and Sea and Cake fame. I guess I’ll really be a dick about it when both sure-to-be-amazing albums hit the shelves. Until then, enjoy these tracks!

Minneapolis rockers the Hunting Club have been busy as of late. While planning the recording of their first full length album, slatted to begin in late May with friend Jeff Halland, the band has still been playing in support of their debut EP.

The album is an excellent romp through indie stylings with a mix of good modern rock elements as well. Tracks like the slower “Deep Sea Diver” are marked by deep mellotrons outlining the skeleton for the song and are coupled by a guitar that’s straight-forward and almost shoe-gazingly mesmerizing.

But it’s the cut “Yours Truly” that stands out more than anything on the album. Starting with a minute of purely instrumentation, the track immediately reminded me of some of the Kings of Leon’s better material. The track takes a bit of a turn at the two minute mark, slowing down a bit and bringing in a more percussion driven verse as opposed to the guitar driven intro. The vocals hit hard half way through too, as the singer belts out “I fell light years in your eyes, forgot my mind and now, I love you I love you I love you…” the entire track comes alive and is pulled together. Hunting Club really seem to find their sound on “Yours Truly,” a sound that feels familiar and yet surprisingly powerful at the same time. If their full length is anything in line with this single I can’t wait to hear it, at any rate though, these guys are looking to make waves, and have started off pretty successfully.

They’ve got a few shows coming up as well if you found yourself loving that song. The first on April 24th at the Nomad World Pub playing alongside Man is Doomed and Invincible Kids. And if you can’t make that you can find them May 17th with Chooglin and Private Dancer at Art-a-Wheel.

Check out the MP3 and see what you think, and be on the lookout for more information as they roll out their first full length later this year. Enjoy!